Hawks’ comeback attempt falls short in 14-8 loss to Grizzlies

After spotting their opponent 12 runs in the first three innings, the Mountlake Terrace Hawks tried to pull off a miraculous comeback in the first game of a three-game series against the Glacier Peak Grizzlies on Tuesday. Their effort fell short and the Hawks lost 14-8 at Mountlake Terrace High School.

The Hawks and the Grizzlies play game two of the series on Wednesday at Glacier Peak High School in Snohomish. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.

After falling behind 12-0, Terrace took advantage of a trio of walks given up by Glacier Peak pitchers to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning; the Hawks then came up with some key hits and scored four runs. Terrace followed up with two more runs in the fifth, then two more in the sixth. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Hawk Jordan Yoshida represented the tying run in his at-bat, only to strike out and put a damper on the comeback attempt.

Terrace head coach Andrew Watters wasn’t too surprised that his squad had some fight in them and mounted a charge at the Grizzlies. “When we made it 12-8 and we got two innings left to go, we believed we could do it. The kids believed they could do it. I believed we could do it,” Watters said.

“You realize that you are one or two more clutch hits away from actually doing it. I’ve seen it happen before, so it’s not new to me. It happens in our league quite a bit. We have a good lineup, we have a good team,” he added.

The comeback attempt may be an indication of the character of this Hawk team. “I hope that it’s saying that we’re not going to quit and that we’re going to persevere through the season,” Watters surmised. “It’s a good trait to have.”

Terrace starting pitcher Benjamin Reijonen only lasted one and two-thirds innings, giving up seven runs and picking up the loss for the Hawks. Conner Clausen came on in relief and went the rest of the way on the mound. Clausen was roughed up in the third inning, giving up five runs, but was able to keep Glacier Peak at bay in the fourth, fifth and sixth.

“I’ll tell you, quite honestly, that is just huge,” Watters said of Clausen’s pitching performance. “You talk about the three-game series, well, he saved arms for the next two games by being able to pitch well enough to eat up those innings for us. And it was nice to see Conner settle down. And those middle three innings he threw in his outing were great, and he was shutting them out and keeping up in the ballgame. So he deserves a lot of credit for keeping up in that thing.”

“That was big for him. He’s a senior and he wants those innings. Hopefully he got some confidence out of that,” Watters said.

Terrace will send junior Dominic DeMiero to the mound to start Wednesday’s game against the Grizzlies; Dan Tice is scheduled to pitch for the Hawks in Friday’s matchup.

Glacier Peak picked up 25 hits in Monday’s game as they raised their league record to 3-0, 5-1 overall. Terrace dropped to 1-2 in league play, 3-3 overall.

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